Maryterese R. Streett

The evening of Saturday, August 25, 2012, at 9:24 p.m., with quiet courage and the dignity, manner and grace of a lady, Maryterese Ryan Streett passed peacefully from the loving embraces of her family and friends on this earth to the loving embraces of God and previously departed family and friends in heaven.

Mary was born on September 4, 1930 in the little Borough of Forty Fort, situated in the Wyoming Valley to which Mary referred as the Valley of Enchantment, in the mountainous region of Northeastern PA, to proud Irish parents Joseph and Mary Ryan (nee Durkin). Baptized a Roman Catholic, Mary and her family belonged to Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Swoyersville, PA. Mary attended and was graduated from Holy Name School and later, over the objections of her father who said she should find and settle down with a good Polish husband, Mary earned a scholarship to and attended and was graduated, with a degree in English, from College Misericordia (now MU), Dallas, PA. There are mountain people and ocean people and Mary was the latter. During her college years Mary spent summers working at the Chalfonte-Haddon Hall hotel located on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, NJ, and was fond of recounting stories of her college days, of her carefree fun filled summers in Atlantic City, and of the treasured lifelong friendships she made at both places, college and the shore.

After completing college, in 1952 the intrepid Mary (She was not where she had been…She was not where she was going….But she was on her way...) traveled from Northeastern PA to the little town of Bel Air, situated in rural Harford County, Maryland, to begin her teaching career at the newly constructed (1950) Bel Air High School. Mary's migration to Bel Air at that time was the beginning of a migration of many talented teachers from Northeastern PA to Bel Air all of whom have left legacy and imprint on Bel Air students and public education in Harford County. Mary was creative, of an artistic bent and not rigid in her approach to teaching. She believed in and respected that each child was as an individual, that every child could learn, but did not believe that all children must necessarily learn in the same rote manner. She observed kids falling through the cracks because they could not learn the same way as did most other kids, who may have acted out, and she had empathy for them. Thus, Mary formed classes of kids other teachers did not want in their classes (Mary referred to these kids fondly as her "wild boys") and implemented creative teaching methods and reached many. Mary was very proud of her wild boys and spoke of them often, but never by name, the rest of her life.

In her early teaching days in Bel Air, at the soda fountain in Boyd & Fulford Pharmacy located on Main Street, Mary met a handsome young man, Gene Streett, a pharmacist at Boyd & Fulford. Gene and Mary courted and on July 30, 1955, were married at Holy Name Church in Swoyersville, PA (Gene still has the soda fountain booth in which they met), and they then rented the "little stone house" (still stands at corner of Main St. and Fulford Ave.) in Bel Air and began to raise a family and to scrimp and save for the future. In December 1956, Mary and Gene welcomed into the world their 1st son Christopher (at which point Mary gave up her teaching career), followed by their 2nd son Timothy in May 1959, 3rd son Eugene in October 1962 (at which point moved to current residence on Gordon St., Bel Air), and 4th son Jonathan in October 1963.

In 1962, after Gene having worked at Boyd and Fulford since 1945 when he started out as a 14 year old stock boy, Gene and Mary purchased the pharmacy and have continuously owned and operated it ever since (to 2012). A Bel Air institution, Boyd and Fulford has been in continuous operation for 120 years, since 1892.

Through the course and conduct of her life and day to day work at Boyd & Fulford, Mary herself became a Bel Air Main Street institution. A verbal historian of sorts, through countless conversations with countless pharmacy employees, customers, friends, acquaintances, and pretty much whoever cared to stop in and chat over the past nearly six decades, Mary discussed and conveyed local history, news, events, people and lore. No matter who or what ones station in life, Mary welcomed all with friendly greeting, conversation and at times motherly advice. The operation of a small business, especially a small town Main Street pharmacy where customers share with you their joys in life such as having a new baby as well as their sorrows such as the diagnosis of an unfortunate illness, was an intensely personal affair that Mary understood. It is a people business. As Mary herself once said "We know the people, we care about the people, we go out of our way for the people…and we keep it simple." All are special and all have been extended family and a treasure to Mary (and Gene) over the decades and generations.

Mary was very involved in community affairs through her past involvement in the ladies' Inner Wheel of Rotary, and was very proud of her charity fundraising efforts and contribution as a 30 year docent at Liriodendron Mansion on Gordon Street in Bel Air. Outside of the pharmacy Mary's favorite pastimes were playing bridge with close friends every Thursday, getting away with husband Gene to Ocean City, MD when they could, being a mother and grandmother and spending time in the company of family and friends.

Sadly, Mary Streett suffered a massive stroke in late May [2012] from which she courageously rebounded, but from which she suffered limitations. Then the morning of Monday, August 20th, our dear Mary suffered another massive stroke to which she succumbed fatally the evening of Saturday, August 25, 2012. God bless you, Mary. We love and miss you and will be up to see you someday.

Mary is survived by her husband of 57 years, M. Eugene Streett; her four sons #1 Christopher (wife Maureen) of Bel Air, MD; #2 Timothy (wife Cheryl and granddaughters, Emma, Julia, Olivia) of Bel Air, MD; #3 Eugene (Tina) of Nokomis, FL; #4 Jonathan (wife Audrey and grandchildren Rebecca, Thomas, Mitchell) of Fallston, MD; as well her brothers Joseph Ryan and Leo Ryan of Forty Fort, PA, and many nieces and nephews. In life Mary was predeceased by her beloved father Joseph Ryan and beloved mother Mary Ryan.

Visitation will be held at McComas Funeral Home, P.A., Bel Air, MD on Wednesday, August 29, 2012 from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will take place at St. Ignatius Catholic Church, Forest Hill, MD on Thursday, August 30, 2012 at 10 a.m. Interment will be at Deer Creek United Methodist Church Cemetery, Forest Hill, MD.

Those who desire may make a donation to St. Ignatius Catholic Church, 533 E. Jarrettsville Road, Forest Hill, MD 21050 or Senator Bob Hooper House, c/o Upper Chesapeake Health Foundation, 520 Upper Chesapeake Drive, Suite 405, Bel Air, MD 21014.